/*
 * Copyright (c) 2006-2007 Zsolt Szasz <zsolt at lorecraft dot com>
 *
 * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
 * a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
 * "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
 * without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
 * distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
 * permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
 * the following conditions:
 *
 * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
 * included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
 *
 * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
 * EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
 * MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
 * NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE
 * LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
 * OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
 * WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
 */

package org.lorecraft.routes;

public abstract class RouteFactory {

	/**
	 * The current RouteFactory, defaulting to a {@link DefaultRouteFactory} instance
	 */
	private static RouteFactory instance = new DefaultRouteFactory();

	/**
	 * @return the configured singleton RouteFactory
	 */
	public static RouteFactory get() {
		return instance;
	}

	/**
	 * Sets the RouteFactory singleton instance
	 *
	 * @param routeFactory
	 */
	public static void set(RouteFactory routeFactory) {
		RouteFactory.instance = routeFactory;
	}

	/**
	 * @return a newly created empty RouteSet
	 */
	public abstract RouteSet createRouteSet();

	/**
	 * Creates a Route based on the supplied <code>template</code> and links it to the specified
	 * <code>namespace</code>
	 *
	 * @param template The route template, e.g. "/item/:itemId"
	 * @param namespace The namespace the action belongs to, e.g. "/admin"
	 * @param params optional list of parameters in string map format, e.g. "action:show", "format:full"
	 * @return
	 */
	public abstract Route createRoute(String template, String namespace, String... params);

	/**
	 * Creates an {@link Element}. Provided for extension purposes.
	 * @param segment the path element
	 * @return an element that will process this path element
	 */
	public abstract Element createElement(String segment);

}
